Tag Archives: Buran

15 November 1988

Space shuttle Buran is launched at Baikonur Cosmodrome, 0300 UTC, 15 November 1988.
Space shuttle Buran is launched at Baikonur Cosmodrome, 0300 UTC, 15 November 1988.

15 November 1988: At 0300 UTC, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics launched the space shuttle Buran from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. This was an unmanned flight, with all the systems preprogrammed. The launch vehicle was an Energiya rocket.

The Energiya was powered by four RD-170 and four RD-0120 rocket engines. The RD-170 burned kerosene and liquid oxygen. Its sea level thrust was 1,697,300 pounds (7,549.967 kilonewtons). The RD-0120 burned liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Its thrust was 341,000 pounds (1,516.844 kilonewtons). Total thrust of all eight engines was 8,153,200 pounds (36,267.240 kilonewtons).

© 2016, Bryan R. Swopes

5 June 1989

Antonov An-225 Mriya with Buran at Paris Air Show, 5 June 1989. (Ralf Manteufel)

5 June 1989: The Antonov An-225 Мрия (MriyaDream in the Ukranian language) took off from Kiev with the space shuttle Buran, enroute to the Paris Air Show. The total weight at takeoff was a 1,234,600 pounds (560,005 kilograms)—the greatest weight ever lifted by an aircraft.

The An-225 was derived from the earlier four-engine An-124. It is operated by a flight crew of 6–7. The airplane is 84.00 meters (275.59 feet) long, with a wingspan of 88.40 meters (290.03 feet) and height of 18.10 meters (59.38 feet). The total wing area is 905.0 square meters (9,741.3 square feet).

Mriya weighs approximately 250,000 kilograms (551,156 pounds), empty, and its maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) is 600,000 kilograms (1,322,774 pounds). The maximum payload is 250,000 kilograms (551,156 pounds pounds).

The cargo hold of the An-225 is 43.35 meters (142.22 feet) long, 6.40 meters (21.00 feet) wide and 4.40 meters (14.44 feet) high. The usable volume is 1,300 cubic meters (45,909 cubic feet).

The Antonov An-225 climbing out. (Flightradar24)

The An-225 is powered by six Ivchenko Progress (Lotarev) D-18T turbofan engines producing 229.848 kilonewtons (51,672 pounds of thrust), each. The D-18T is a three-spool axial-flow high-bypass turbofan engine. The 15-stage compressor has a single-stage fan, 7 intermediate-pressure-, and 7 high-pressure stages). The 6-stage turbine consists of 1 high- and 1 intermediate-pressure stages, and 4-stage fan turbine. The engines are 5.400 meters (17.717 feet) long, 2.937 meters (9.636 feet) high and 2.792 meters (9.160 feet) wide. they weigh 4,100 kilograms (9,039 pounds), each.

The transport has cruise speed of 700 kilometers per hour (435 miles per hour) and its maximum speed is 850 kilometers per hour (528 miles per hour). The service ceiling is 11,145 meters (36,565 feet). Mriya carries a maximum fuel load of 300,000 kilograms (661,387 pounds, or 98,567 U.S. gallons, Jet A-1), and has a practical range of 4,500 kilometers (2,796 miles). Its maximum range of 15,400 kilometers (9,569 miles).

four view illustration

The world’s heaviest airplane, Mriya was the only one in existence. It was built specifically to transport Buran. A second An-225 was partially constructed, but never finished.

The An 225 was destroyed during the Battle of Antonov Airport, 24–25 February 2022.

Wreckage of the Antonov An 225 Mriya. (Oleksandr Ratushniak)

Buran, the Soviet space shuttle, made one unmanned flight into orbit, 15 November 1988. It was destroyed 12 May 2002 when its hangar collapsed, killing eight Workers.

© 2022, Bryan R. Swopes